The Paris Diaries

The following letter was written by Camille Serchuk, professor of art and co-director
of the Southern in Paris summer study program. Photographs were provided by Thuan
Vu, professor of art and co-director of the Paris program.

Dear friends and supporters of the SCSU Paris Program,

Our program has gotten off to a great start in Paris this year. The students arrived
with Professors Vu and Eilderts on Monday, and were met at Charles de Gaulle by Professor
Serchuk, who welcomed everyone with fresh croissants. We then boarded a bus for the
journey to the Cité Universitaire, in the south of the city, where the students are
staying. We arrived, got the students settled in their rooms and then gave them a
chance to rest and unpack. We then held a brief orientation and gave the students
their program cell phones (which enable everyone to keep in touch), Métro passes (which
provide unlimited access to the city’s public transport, all month) maps of the city,
and special cards that entitle them to easy and unlimited access to the Louvre, the
Musée d’Orsay, and the Orangerie, so they can visit these collections as often as
they want, without having to stand in line. Our program draws heavily on these museums,
and the students come to know them very well; these museum cards help make that happen.

That evening, for our first French meal together, we traveled to a creperie in Montparnasse,
a short journey from the dorms. After dinner we went back to the neighborhood near
their dorms and went grocery shopping so that they would have provisions for their
rooms. It was a long and tiring day, and the students went to sleep filled with anticipation
for what they would encounter the next day.

Our group of sixteen students this year comprises students from a variety of programs
including Art, Psychology, Political Science, Education, French and Women’s Studies.
They have already shown themselves to be a bright and cooperative group, with a great
range of interests and talents. At our second orientation session on Tuesday morning,
they had lots of thoughtful questions about how to navigate and communicate. We were
impressed with their curiosity and their desire to interact respectfully with everyone
they met. After we sorted out some lingering computer issues (staying in touch is
always a high priority!), we headed to Trocadéro, the best spot in Paris from which
to view the Eiffel Tower. It was a beautiful day, and the students got great photographs
of this essential Parisian monument. From there, we picked up some sandwiches for
lunch and then walked to the point of departure for the Bateaux-Mouches, the “fly
boats” (so named because their front windows make them look a bit like insects) and
enjoyed a river tour of the city.

Wednesday, we began our courses. In the morning, Professor Serchuk’s students visited
the remains of the Roman Arena. Professor Vu's students began to draw in the Luxembourg
Gardens, and Professor Eilderts’s students began their studies of French, examining
the city of Paris within the French social, political, and cultural landscape. In
the evening, we visited the Louvre for the first time. We oriented the students with
maps, and then visited some of the best-known works at the museum, including Michelangelo’s
Dying Slave, the Winged Victory of Samothrace, the Mona Lisa, and Gericault’s Raft
of the Medusa. From the Louvre we went to dinner at Le Trumilou, where we also celebrated
the birthday of one of our students.

Since then, we have had visits to the Basilica of Saint-Denis, the sculpture galleries
at the Louvre, and the Cluny museum of the Middle Ages. On Friday, the students in
the Gothic Cathedrals course traveled to Laon to explore the cathedral there. The
weather started out cold and drizzly, but by the end of the afternoon, we could get
great photographs of the cathedral’s magnificent façade. Saturday the students were
free to explore on their own, and then on Sunday we convened at the Centre Pompidou,
the National Museum of Modern Art, and explored its marvelous collection of twentieth
century art. On the first Sunday of every month, the French museums run by the state
open their doors for free, and we encouraged the students to take full advantage of
this opportunity.

As you can see, it has been a very busy first week! We are having a great time and
working hard—from our perspective, exactly the right balance for our program.